Bill Kostroun/APDevils captain Jamie Langenbrunner, shown with Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier, expects a tough battle against the Rangers Tuesday night.After a weekend in which they sandwiched a victory in Montreal between two halves of a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Devils were given a day off on Monday.

They will face the Rangers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

"I'm watching the standings and they're obviously getting some wins," Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner said of the Rangers. "They're a dangerous team. They have some extremely gifted players. Obviously (Marian) Gaborik is having a heck of a year and we're going to have to find a way to slow him down a little bit and get some shots at (Henrik) Lundqvist."

Coach Jacques Lemaire expects a battle.

"That'll be three good periods," Lemaire said. "That'll be a good game. They're playing probably their best hockey right now. It will be a good challenge for our club."

Lemaire said he feels defenseman Johnny Oduya is starting to play better.

I think he's playing better the last three or four games than he was at the start," Lemaire said. "I think he's starting to take charge. He does make mistakes at different times, but you start not to play your game and then you start to push a little more and try different things to bring offense to play better and control the game a little more. And that's what he's trying to do right now.

"At times he's going to make a mistake here and there but this is no big because I k now he's going in the right direction."